Digital Commons Network^™

A Graduate Recital In Voice, Patrick O'Halloran

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This graduate thesis consists of a vocal recital and the accompanying program notes. The recital includes a compilation of traditional Neapolitan songs, “5 Songs of Laurence Hope” by the H.T. Burleigh, and selections from the French opera “Werther” by Jules Massenet,. The program notes for each selection will include biographical information, musical analysis, performance history and culture, as well as other pertinent information

Toward An Understanding Of Grb Prompt Emission Mechanism. Ii. Patterns Of Peak Energy Evolution And Their Connection To Spectral Lags, Z. Lucas Uhm, Bing Zhang, Judith Racusin

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The prompt emission phase of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) exhibits two distinct patterns of the peak energy (E p ) evolution, i.e., time-resolved spectral analyses of νF ν spectra of broad pulses reveal (1) "hard-to-soft" and (2) "flux-tracking" patterns of E p evolution in time, the physical origin of which still remains not well understood. We show here that these two patterns can be successfully reproduced within a simple physical model invoking synchrotron radiation in a bulk-accelerating emission region. We show further that the evolution patterns of the peak energy have, in fact, direct connections to the existence of two different …

The Drug Discovery Of Potential Anti-Cancer Agents To Inhibit The Demethylation Catalytic Activity Of The Jmjc Domain Of Kdm3a, Balgees Alshanqeti

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Lysine demethylase 3A (KDM3A) is an enzyme that specifically catalyzes the removal of 2 or three methyl groups from lysine 9 of histone 3 (KH3). It belongs to the family of histone demethylases that contain the Jumonji C (JmjC) domain, which means cruciform in Japanese. KDM3A also belongs to a family of hydroxylases that are alpha-ketoglutarate dependent. The role of KDM3A in the cell is not yet understood, however, and based on its demethylation of studies have showed that its expression is elevated in embryonic stem cells in humans and in mice. In general, patterns of elevated expression of KDM3A …

Using Games To Teach English In Chinese High School Classroom, Wenyu Zhu

Master's Projects and Capstones

In the 20th century, English played an important role in international communication as an international language. English is a bridge between countries' economies, cultures, and trade. However, current English education in Chinese high schools is still test-oriented which is ineffective, and students are tired of it. Moreover, teachers also have trouble engaging students in the class. The purpose of this project is to create a curriculum for high school English teachers in China to use games to teach English language skills. Krashen’s (1982) Theory of Second Language Acquisition contains five main hypotheses which support this project. The project includes twenty-three …

Community, Preservation, And Street Art: A Proposal For San Francisco’S Mission District, Marissa Nadeau

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Latinx community is an integral part of San Francisco’s rich history. From Mexican missions in the late 1700s to an influx of immigrants from various Latin countries starting in the early 1900s, the Mission District (‘the Mission’) of San Francisco has served as a hub for this mix of residents, fondly called “Raza,” emphasizing the people of a community rather than the country they have come from. Wars and issues dealt in their homelands were close to the hearts of the entirety of the Latinx population of the Mission, and their voices and opinions were heard through a type …

Improving Knowledge And Attitude Of Primary Healthcare Givers Towards Vulnerable Populations: A Quality Improvement Project, Kimberly Shankel

Master's Projects and Capstones

Improving Knowledge and Attitude of Primary Healthcare

Givers Towards Vulnerable Populations

Kimberly Shankel

University of San Francisco

Abstract

Problem

This project aims to improve patient satisfaction for vulnerable population patients while in hospital, namely transgender and gender non-conforming people. A major roadblock for this population in seeking medical care is their fear of discrimination when accessing healthcare, resulting in a delay, or avoidance of medical care. Multiple studies agree there is a need for nursing education on cultural competence to improve care and satisfaction for vulnerable populations.

Context

The site for this quality improvement project is a small suburban hospital …

Raising Oas Cahps Scores: Using Patient Education, Katrina Pangilinan

Master's Projects and Capstones

At the Golden Gate Endoscopy Center (GGEC), the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery (OAS CAHPS) survey results on patient satisfaction have been below the 50th percentile for the last three quarters of 2018. Patient satisfaction scores are a quality measure for the patient care experience and important for the success of the organization and its providers. Based on patient comments from previous surveys, patients feel that the center does not explain the possible side effects of the anesthesia in a way they can understand. Other patient comments and concerns included confusion regarding dietary restrictions …

Building Engagement Through Developing Students’ Sense Of Self-Control, Natalia Sanchez Gonzalez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Students who enter public schools in the United States in the latter part of their academic career may lack the English language proficiency or capital necessary to successfully participate in mainstream content courses. Students such as these, known as late arrivals, face even greater difficulties when they enter academic institutions that or not equipped to provide language supports that ensure students can access content. Arriving at a later age and grade level, places additional pressure on educators and students to enter mainstream language classrooms. With little control or access to be active participants in the new academic settings, these students …

Bullying In Schools: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Early-Career Elementary School Principals, Jason Q. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Since the latter part of the 19th Century, researchers have been studying the bullying phenomenon and the devastating short- and long-term impact it has on children’s lives. In an attempt to reduce bullying incidents that arise in school, many have set up anti-bullying programs. The goal of these programs is twofold: (a) to reduce the number of bullying incidents in school and (b) create a safe and welcoming learning environment for all students. Although principals work tirelessly to establish conditions to sustain learning for others, they receive very little support for their own learning and development. As principals’ on-going experiences …

An Elastic Constitutive Model Of Spacetime And Its Applications, Tichomir G. Tenev

Theses and Dissertations

We introduce an elastic constitutive model of gravity that enables the interpretation of cosmological observations in terms of established ideas from Solid Mechanics and multiscale modeling. The behavior of physical space is identified with that of a material-like medium called "cosmic fabric," which exhibits constitutive behavior. This cosmic fabric is a solid hyperplate that is broad in the three ordinary spatial dimensions and thin in a fourth hyperspatial dimension. Matter in space is treated as fabric inclusions that prescribe in-plane (three-dimensional) strain causing the transverse bending of the fabric into the fourth hyperspatial dimension. The linearized Einstein-Hilbert action, which governs …

Secondary Organic Aerosol Production From Local Emissions Dominates The Organic Aerosol Budget Over Seoul, South Korea, During Korus-Aq, Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Bruce Anderson, Andreas J. Beyersdorf, Donald R. Blake, William H. Brune, Yonghoon Choi, Chelsea A. Corr, Joost A. De Gouw, Jack E. Dibb, Joshua P. Digangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Alan Fried, L. Gregory Huey, Michelle J. Kim, Christoph J. Knote, Kara D. Lamb, Taehyoung Lee, Taehyun Park, Sally E. Pusede, Eric Scheuer, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jung-Hun Woo, Jose L. Jimenez

Faculty Publications

Organic aerosol (OA) is an important fraction of submicron aerosols. However, it is challenging to predict and attribute the specific organic compounds and sources that lead to observed OA loadings, largely due to contributions from secondary production. This is especially true for megacities surrounded by numerous regional sources that create an OA background. Here, we utilize in situ gas and aerosol observations collected on board the NASA DC-8 during the NASA–NIER KORUS-AQ (Korea–United States Air Quality) campaign to investigate the sources and hydrocarbon precursors that led to the secondary OA (SOA) production observed over Seoul. First, we investigate the contribution …

Contested Education, Continuity, And Change In Arizona And New Mexico, 1945-2010, Stephen D. Mandrgoc

History ETDs

Sibling states split from the original New Mexico Territory, Arizona and New Mexico are neighbors geographically but very different otherwise: in how they were founded, in their ethnic makeup, in their sociocultural values, and in the forms of structural racism that are part of this history of both states. Mexican American residents who found themselves suddenly American citizens struggled in response to discrimination aimed at “Mexicans” by their Anglo American neighbors fueled by racist stereotypes built on the Spanish Black Legend and the mythology of the Alamo in Texas. Above all, Mexican Americans contested Anglo Americans for the right for …

Staff Council Meeting Minutes, Georgia Southern University, Staff Council

Staff Council Meeting Minutes & Agendas

No abstract provided.

Housing Condition Impact On Pae Learning And Bdnf Expression., Annette K. Fernandez Oropeza

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Prenatal alcohol and early life stress exposure are associated with reduced levels of BDNF in the frontal cortex. Several studies have implicated (BDNF) in frontal cortex as important contributor of learning and memory. In the present study, we look to determine whether early housing conditions could mitigate the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on learning as well as BDNF expression in sex-specific manner in frontal cortex of mice. Compared to control, prenatal alcohol mice expresses reduced total BDNF levels and displayed reduced freezing behavior response during contextual fear conditioning in both female and male mice. Female displayed increased BDNF levels …

Trapped In The Towers, Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky

Capstones

New York City’s public housing, known as NYCHA, is a popular choice for disabled and elderly adults. 40% of NYCHA residents receive support from government programs intended to help older New Yorkers and New Yorkers with disabilities, and 32% of NYCHA households include an elderly person. Contrast that to New York City as a whole, where 11.2% of the population is disabled and 13% is elderly. For many disabled and elderly New Yorkers, NYCHA is one of precious few affordable options in an increasingly expensive city. But recent reporting suggests that NYCHA housing may be especially poorly suited for people …

Intra- And Inter-Molecular Signaling In A Cardiac Connexin: Role Of Cytoplasmic Domain Dimerization And Phosphorylation, Andrew J. Trease

Theses & Dissertations

As critical mediators of cell-to-cell communication, gap junctions (GJs) are comprised of membrane channels that directly link the cytoplasm of adjacent coupled cells thereby allowing for the passage of ions, small metabolites, and secondary messengers. Each channel is formed by the apposition of two connexons from adjacent cells, each composed of six connexin (Cx) proteins. Each GJ channel functions to promote signal propagation and synchronization of cells and tissues in organs. Furthermore, GJs are essential for proper propagation of cardiac action potentials from one cell to the next, leading to the coordinated contraction and relaxation of heart muscle powering circulation. …

An Autoethnography Of Culturally Relevant Leadership As Moral Practice: Lived Experiences Through A Scholar-Practitioner Lens, Charles L. Lowery

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnography, I am concerned with cultural relevance as an experience of a scholar-practitioner educational leader. I question my own cultural competence as a teacher and school principal. Turning a reflective gaze on my lived experiences as an educator creates a space in which I attempt to make meaning of the phenomenon of culturally relevant practices in the field of education. As an act of pedagogical and personal meaning-making, this autoethnographic work centers on the value of cultural relevance as informed by scholarly practice.

Accelerating Synchronization On Futuristic 1000-Cores Multicore Processor With Moving Compute To Data Model, Halit Dogan

Doctoral Dissertations

Single chip multicore processors are now prevalent and processors with hundreds of cores are being proposed and explored by both academia and industry. Shared memory cache coherence is the state-of-the-art technology for these processors to enable synchronization and communication between cores. However, since the synchronization of cores on shared data using hardware cache coherence suffers from instruction retries and cache line ping-pong overheads, it prevents performance scaling as core counts increase on a chip.

This thesis proposes to utilize a novel moving computation to data model (MC) to overcome this synchronization bottleneck in a 1000-cores scale shared memory multicore processor. …

Improving Nursing Communication Outcomes Through The Tell-Us Card, Jeffrey Salao, Nina Park, Laura Le, Brittney Pilker, Jillian Cule, Maricarmen Reyes

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Nursing communication plays a pivotal role in patient-centered care. However, statistics have shown that failures in communication exist in more than 20% of all hospital settings (Sethi & Rani, 2017). Within the explored microsystem, a gap in patient communication was identified through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys. Reports revealed that the microsystem was performing at 69%, which is 11% below the national average for nursing communication (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS], 2018). After performing a microsystem assessment, there was a measurable communication opportunity between the patients and nurses. It was determined …

Museum-School Partnerships: From Creative Discourse To Resource Development, Emma Doctors

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper aims to explore museum-school partnerships and best educational practices within each entity's efforts to collaborate. The project surveys museum education and explores programmatic and curriculum development that help to serve as enrichment for students. These partnerships are important to the museum studies field as it fulfills a fiduciary responsibility that museums hold - to educate the public. By fulfilling the needs of both entities (museums and schools), creative discourse ensues, creating solutions for students to enrich their learning. I end with a project to propose the development of an exhibition resource guide that would combine the knowledge and …

Revival, Anya Van Wagtendonk

Capstones

My hometown, Great Barrington, MA, has one famous former resident: NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois. For generations, his legacy in the predominantly white town was hardly acknowledged. People actively protested the landmarking of his birth site in the 1960s. When I was a kid, plans to name a new middle school after him were scrapped after the uproar grew too loud. Even in this supposedly liberal enclave in western Massachusetts, people continued to object to his membership in the Communist Party. As former NAACP president Cornell Brooks said recently, this would be like Princeton, N.J., ignoring that Einstein had ever …

A Modern-Day Affliction: Did Wifi Make Joel Dean Sick?, Dominic Mckenzie

Capstones

Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity is one of many disorders that exist in a strange border zone between recognized syndromes and discredited ones. One young man, a computer engineer by trade, had his life turned upside down by the disorder that has doctors and scientists across the world confused on how to treat it. Here's his story:

https://medium.com/@dominic.mckenzie/capstone-1dd7ff866a29

Eternally Poor, Kalah Siegel

Capstones

Dying poor in, and around, New York City practically guarantees a hard-won fight for a dignified funeral. Eternally Poor examines the hardships low-income families face when a loved one dies in New York and the options available to them. It also explores the added emotional stress from financial hardship combined with grief.

Failing The Mothers Of New York City, Irene Spezzamonte, Vanessa Swales

Capstones

Between 2015 and 2011, about 4,000 women lost their lives while delivering a baby in the United States. That’s 1,000 lost lives every year.

The causes of these deaths are often preventable and are the mere result of racial discrimination. African-American mothers, for instance, have a three-time higher rate of dying than White mothers. Several investigative investigations have been conducted on the racial disparities and the lack of resources offered nationwide, but, so far, none has focused on the local level. This capstone focuses solely in New York City and the three populations that are being affected the most by …

The Art Of Fortune-Taking, Allison Weintraub

Capstones

People suffering grief or emotional distress turn to many places for comfort, which can make them a target of psychic scam artists. Stigma about falling for scams might prevent victims from seeking help. https://medium.com/@allison.weintraub/the-art-of-fortune-taking-5cdedb6718d0

A Mother And Son Are Reunited After 18 Years, Comice Johnson

Capstones

Alfonso Xicali López saw his mother for the first time in almost two decades. He is participating in a program called Raíces de Puebla, which means Roots of Puebla in Spanish. The program pays for tourist visas and plane tickets for the relatives of undocumented Mexican immigrants who haven’t seen their family members in a decade or more. The government of Alfonso’s home state, Puebla, funds the program. They aim to maintain family connections and reward immigrants who are active members of their communities.

https://medium.com/@comicejohnson/today-alfonso-xicali-lópez-will-see-his-mom-for-the-first-time-in-18-years-1fc6c27caaa

Inside C3: Portrait Of A Megachurch, Andrew Chandler, Reece T. Williams

Capstones

Our project centers on C3 NYC, a popular evangelical megachurch that has exploded in popularity despite allegations of abuse and financial impropriety currently swirling around it. Through photos and an accompanying audio piece that features voices from current and former members of the church, our piece seeks to go inside of C3

https://audioproject.wordpress.com/

Cannabis Caught Between Smoke And Mirrors, Laura M. Olivieri Robles

Capstones

Cannabis legalization advances across the country and social attitudes are changing. Public health experts see parallels with the tobacco industry-- and are concerned about kids exposed to cannabis advertisement.

Biased, Janessa M. Andiorio Ms.

Capstones

BIASED is a journalistic podcast focused on intertwining journalistic reporting with opinion to explore the bad behaviors and entitled attitudes that comes with athletic status and how it develops. By talking with coaches, current and former athletes and sport sociology exports this project explores how athletes view themselves as well as how society enables certain sport culture.

https://jandiorio194.wixsite.com/biased

Offset: How The Government Improperly Takes Money From The Disabled, Carmen Reinicke

Capstones

The US Department of Education is supposed to use its computers to match its borrowers who now suffer from total permanent disabilities based on Social Security or Veteran Administration rolls. If the borrower has been disabled for more than five consecutive years, then deductions for unpaid student loans are supposed to cease.

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a federal agency that reviews government work, shows that the program, now a computerized system that matches Social Security numbers, fails to identify thousands of individuals who deserve student debt relief.

Link: https://medium.com/@careinicke/offset-how-the-government-improperly-takes-money-from-the-disabled-8928cd556f93